Sunday, February 28, 2016

Little By Little Goes Meandering Philly

Little By Little Goes Meandering Philly

Philly made it to level 97. Raised her gear level from i575 to i581.

Went to Spires of Arak, but that got old pretty fast. Puttered about and got 53% of the way to level 98. Went back to her garrison to take a nap.

It's taken Philly six days to get from Level 94 to Level 98. Now 58% of the way to level 99.

The Garrison is beginning to take shape. The latest follower to arrive is Ahm, another minor two trait follower. Philly's followers are the worst lot in the family.

Almost by accident she stumbled into Nagrand and reached Level 99 +18%. Okay, +29% now. Her gear score jumped to i599, but she's still a squishy.

She was so bored on Saturday she went fishing and got her Fishing Shack set up.

On the technical side, she has run into a snag where her action buttons aren't working properly. The extra buttons that should come up in special circumstances won't appear at all or cause other buttons to appear and disappear. I know the problem is with the Dominos addon, and I also know I was the culprit who messed it up. I just have to figure out how to fix it. Virtually everything I use in WoW is tied to that addon.

There was a planned class on Void Storage and Transmogrification but Philly cut class. The short explanation for both is as follows:

    Void Storage - 160 slots to keep soulbound gear.There's a one time 100 gold cost to open it. It costs 10g to put an item in, zero to take it out. That's it.

Transmogrification (aka mogging, tmog, xmog, etc) - Pretty yourself up in garments that hide the real armor underneath. Follow the rules and it's a snap.

Nobody has yet missed not having a Skinner.

Update on the Dominos Addon - It's broken in Philly's world. The other toons are not having any problems. I tried to duplicate the setup with Jocy, but no go. The addon is updated with each patch/expansion, but there is no other upkeep and the author can't be reached. I'm very wary of reinstalling Dominos because that affects ALL of the toons, not just Philly. I don't want to break everyone else trying to fix Philly's.

Update #2 - I think I fixed the interface. I think I made it better than it was before. But it'll require testing. Possibly fatal testing if there are problems.

The Nine PM Push ended at 11:26 pm. Philly is Level 100. Gear makes another jump to i614. Philly's interface is working fine. Philly is still a squishy, but despite usually attracting two plus mobs on every battle, she tosses out her DoTs and manages not to die. Mostly. She's still in Nagrand.

The Tanaan Jungle is waiting for her.

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Mainly About Philly

Mainly About Philly

After the Treatise report on family professions (see the prior post) there was still some cleaning up to do. Fist was pressed ("forced" was how how Fist saw it) to abandon her Skinning profession. She reluctantly agreed to take up Inscription so that the family could get use out of the Scribe's Quarters already in place in Fist's garrison. That decision leaves the family without a Skinner. There is no great need for a Skinner at present, but if the need arises there is no plan on how to acquire one.

Ideas? (1) Skinning can be leveled quickly, but someone would have to give up a working profession to take up Skinning. (2) The family could wait until Legion, when they will add a demon hunter who might take up Leatherworking and Skinning. Or not. (3) Someone could be boosted. The most likely candidate is Merylitlbotm. Don't remember Mery? She's a level 60 hunter with Leatherworking and Skinning as her professions. A boost would get her to level 90, and she'd have to climb the ladder from there. At level 60 Mery's gear level is 49 (which is worth a giggle and not much else). Also, Mery is slated for retirement.

Last Sunday - Philly pushed her way back into the conversation to tell everyone she reached Level 94. Most of the work was done in the bonus areas of Gorgorond. She was just a little put out that few were paying any attention to her. Then again, the rest of family has been through this five times now. Who wants to watch that show again?

Tuesday - Philly dutifully kept the family informed. She ground her way to Level 95. Talador is in her sights, 38% toward Level 96. Then she got a gut check. She tried to mine an ore node in a level 100 zone. Philly put up a fierce fight but did not survive. That was pretty disappointing, and she couldn't collect her ore, either. She's going to have to work harder.

Wednesday - Things are not going well for Philly on the garrison front, either. No new plans for building upgrades have dropped, and without plans she can't upgrade. She has her level 2 Town Hall, but only level 1 buildings for Trading Post, Barracks, and Storehouse. Philly desperately needs to upgrade her Trading Post to increase the production of garrison resources. Her followers are a sad bunch, too. Of the nine she has so far, only two have the max five abilities and traits. It will come, she tells herself, but the gods of WoW have smitten her with terrible luck. Ding! She just barely makes Level 96.

Thursday - Philly is having a hard time maintaining a good pace, managing just 43% toward level 97. At last she acquired plans for a new structure, and a second level for the Barracks is under construction at the cost of 900 garrison resources, a full third of all the resources she has. Philly would have preferred to upgrade the Trading Post, but the plans did not allow for it.

Was Fist Right or What? When Fist gave up her Skinning profession, it was inevitable that it would backfire. Raw Beast Hide has become a rare commodity right when family stocks of it are at a low and prices are skyrocketing. Family hopes are based on a weekend bounty, but that is nothing but conjecture. A Skinner could ease that problem, but the family doesn't have one.

Other bad news is that temporal crystal prices are spiking. Happy had saved up a bunch when prices were low, so Happy got a nice bump by selling off the cheap weapon enchants - he just wishes he'd bought even more when the prices had bottomed. Happy's stock is getting quickly thinned out.

Saturday News - Fist needs to get the full set of recipes for Inscription. At level 96 I wasn't sure if I could get them (might require level 100) but I thought I'd give it a shot. Oddly, the Leather Trader has the Inscription recipes. I went through the process of joining a group in another player's garrison, and for the second time that garrison was one of my own, Fist's. Unfortunately, only the leather recipes appeared, which Fist already has. So, Fist will have to wait until those recipes are available. Still, Fist hung out and let players use her garrison to the get the leather recipes they needed. It was nice getting the thank yous for opening her garrison to others.

Sunday News - What are the odds that the family would get back to back visits by Traders? Fist got a turn yesterday, and on Sunday the honor went to JB. If both accounts were open Fist could have visited JB's garrison to see if she could get the recipes. I nixed paying for opening the second account, so Fist took her business elsewhere. This time the garrison Fist visited had all the inscription recipes and she bought them all. With the extra recipes she should reach max level 700 with no further delays.

Okay, this post has gotten a lot longer than I had planned. Adios!

Friday, February 12, 2016

A Treatise on the Wild Family Garrison Professions

A Treatise on the Wild Family Garrison Professions

Warning - Likely to induce heavy eyelids and snoring.

In a perfect world the Wild Family would have developed their garrison-based professions to take full advantage of both the professions and the associated structures that support those professions. However, that isn't possible, because professions existed before garrisons, and that pre-existing situation adds complexity with every new garrison added to the family holdings. Those who already have professions want to keep them. The addition of secondary structures within the garrisons to support those professions add another layer. There were misunderstandings on how and where to establish such support, and already mistakes have been made.

Attempts to fix one problem caused other problems. The family has twice "un-learned" fully functioning professions, forcing the re-leveling of professions from scratch, a lengthy and expensive deal. The Lesson learned: Always always always place profession buildings in the same garrison with the profession. The Wild family broke that rule many times.

The family took on the task to fix the problems. There may never be an ideal arrangement, but most of the family's needs have been addressed. To Summarize:

Jocy has Blacksmithing and Mining, with the associated Forge. But Jocy isn't happy with the level 3 Gem Boutique also on her property, which should have been paired up with Jewelcrafting. This is problem #1.

Tiphaine is also a Blacksmith, and has loudly argued that she was a blacksmith before Jocy became one, so any duplication is Jocy's fault. Jocy counters that Tiphaine had been hiding in Dalaran so long Jocy had to step in because a Blacksmith was needed. Who thought Tiphaine would ever get over her snit with the family? That's how the family wound up with two blacksmiths. There was no need for two miners, though, and the family was looking for a home for Inscription. Somehow, still argued over the family dinner table, Tiphaine wound up taking the Inscription profession. Since then she's built a Level 3 Scribe's Quarters.

Fist is very happy with her arrangements as a Leatherworker and Skinner with a nice Tannery. But she also houses a Level 3 Scribe's Quarters that is crippled because it isn't supported by inscription, a fact Fist was unaware of at the time she built it. Hundreds of war paints were crafted in those quarters before anyone realized the war paints were soulbound, greatly limiting their use. Fist wants it gone, but the family says wait a minute, its a level 3, plus all those war paints would be destroyed with the building. What should be done? One option offered was to unlearn yet another fully functioning profession, this time Skinning, and take Inscription to marry up with the Scribe's Quarters already there. Fist is fuming about that idea. She wants her Skinning profession.

On the more fortunate side, the two most consistent money makers for the family, the Enchanting and Tailoring professions, both fall under Wild's control, and each have their own appropriate support with a Tailoring Emporium and Enchanter's Study. Wild likes to take credit for good planning, but in fact it was an accident based on the fact that there was only one garrison to work with, not the six there are now. Hindsight being what it is, though, a little thought when the second garrison went up might have saved some heartache later.

JB watched as these issues began raising their heads, and she tried to do the right thing. She has the Alchemy and Herbalism professions, which are complimentary, and is supported by an Alchemy Lab. She is also trying to make a go with a Lumber Mill and Salvage Yard which may or may not pan out. Otherwise, she is in good shape.

Philly is the latest owner of a garrison, and has the benefit of knowing all that has transpired before her. She brought Jewelcrafting and added Mining as her professions. She'll be adding a Gem Boutique when she has the resources. Jewelcrafting has been her main profession for a long time. She was asked to add Mining because there is at least some link between the two professions, plus it fixed the loss of a Mining profession when Tiphaine agreed to give it up for Inscription. See, one move forces another. It's not perfect, but it does work. Philly still has room for another structure, but she hasn't decided on what that will be yet. Okay, so those of you paying close attention may have noticed that the family is back to two Mining professions again. Philly has been using it as a leveling tool because she gets over 2k in XP for each rock she mines.

If the above looks overwhelming already, a seventh garrison is almost a certainty. Assuming that garrisons survive the Legion expansion, the family will add a new member, a demon hunter. From a profession standpoint, Leatherworking and Skinning would be a natural fit since demon hunters wear leather.  [Although there is a faction that is still trying to convince Blizz to grant them mail armor, similar to the shaman. I'd like to see that happen, there are too many leather wearers already, but its a long shot.]

There is one other point that doesn't get much mention. In addition to the buildings already mentioned, the family as a whole have built Salvage Yards, Lumber Mills, Barns, and Frostwall Taverns that have gotten little or no use, primarily because they require gathering things, which takes time the family just doesn't have. Just doing the minimum for the must do stuff takes an hour plus every day. Then add the boredom factor and busy schedules.

Finally, the family needs to make decisions on the two problems still in play. If nothing else is done, the family will have a Level 3 Gem Boutique and Scribes Quarters that isn't supported by a Jewelcrafter or Scribe. The alternative to the status quo is to force Fist to unlearn skinning and take inscription. Right now the Skinning profession just isn't needed. But the cost to level up Inscription from scratch will be steep. As for the Gem Boutique in Jocy's garrison, it isn't very useful, but it isn't in the way, so it would stay as is.

Decisions decisions.

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Philly Girds for the Long Haul

Philly Girds for the Long Haul

The garrison is still little more than a circle of wooden fencing, with nothing built but the Town Hall and the Barracks. She has three followers, one of which is a bodygaurd, Vivianne. Frankly, she hasn't been much help. Her best ability is Blizzard, but she can't kill anything with it and usually complicates things by tagging multiple mobs.
 
Getting Philly combat ready has been a struggle. She's a cloth wearer and a ranged fighter, neither of which the rest of the family have much expertise in. Sure, there was a time on another server when she was a pretty heavy hitter with the long defunct Grunt Foundation, but back then she was usually the healer. Now she is having to re-learn her shadow priesthood. She is currently experimenting with a new rotation that, so far, is working out well. Her main spells are lined up in a 3x3 grid. The rotation is: Mind Blast, (Devouring Plague if ready), (Shadow Word: Death if ready), SW: Pain, Vampiric Touch, Mind Flay (repeat if all other spells are down), Vampiric Embrace, Mind Sear, Cascade.

Most mobs are dead or on their way down by the time Philly gets to Mind Flay. The pace is slower, and  the self healing has been okay, although it requires dropping out of shadow sometimes. Having to actually move around while in combat is another irritiation, but with cloth gear it isn't a good idea to stay in one place. Overall, though, it's working. She may be new to Draenor and to garrisons, but she is an experienced, veteran warrior.

Philly is still level 91 (58% toward level 92), and has bumped up her gear level from i507 to i532. She doesn't much care about how swift her progress is, and is taking a sedate pace so far.

Update: Last night Philly hit Level 92 +10%. She also acquired a fourth follower, Ulna Thresher, a new follower that the family is seeing for the first time. Ulna is Philly's first follower with five traits and abilities.

Philly's gear level inched up to i539. The Auction House for once is failing to deliver gear upgrades. For some reason, the usually plentiful intellect gear is just not available or so expensive Happy refused to take the order. The good news is that the family is pitching in to craft gear for her.
Her Town Hall got an upgrade to Great Hall Level 2, and added a Trading Post and Storehouse.

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

The Dark Portal Beckons Philly

The Dark Portal Beckons Philly

For all the grousing about Pandaria, the low level Jade Forest was packed with quests. It only took a couple of hours of almost leisurely effort to get to Level 90. Using a batch of Timeless Isle gear the family had stored up, Philly improved her gear from i432 to i474. Perhaps Philly will hang out in Pandaria a little longer, depending on how much xp she gets. Plundering Pandaria would also give Philly an advantage should she level a couple more times before plunging into Draenor.

The family is slowly getting the rest of the recipes held by the Traders. I'm going to have to make a chart that shows what can be bought for each Trader, what payment has to be used, and which player needs which Trader. For example, the Herb Trader had to be visited twice: Once for Tiphaine (Inscription recipes, paid for with cerulean pigments), and a second time by JB (Alchemy recipes, paid for with alchemical catalyst). So far the family has visited the fur, leather, and herb traders. Next up is the Ore Trader. There are recipes for blacksmithing (Jocy and Tiphaine), and Jewelcrafting. The family jeweler is Philly. That will have to wait until she puts her own garrison into order.

Philly made one more foray into Hyjal to see if the Daily quests were worth doing at level 90. The short answer - No. Pre-90 Philly was getting 12-16k XP per daily. At level 90 that sank to 4k per daily. Not worth the effort.

She also learned that Pandaria was not the plunder plum she expected, either. She still can't fly there. She must learn the "Wisdom of the Four Winds." Skydancer Shun is the flying trainer for the Horde located on the landing platform at the Shrine of Two Moons. And Viola! Philly can fly. That was easier than I thought it would be. Any guess where she's heading now?

The Timeless Isle was a humbling experience. Philly had no problem flying to the island. She was met on the beach and sent to the main square. She got the starter quest that introduces the four main quest hubs around the square. Philly confidently marched off in the direction given by the quest and within thirty seconds was in the middle of a desperate fight against two level 90 ghosts. She won the battle, but was a bit shaken at how hard it was. Philly tried going to the second quest location, which sent her to a cave. There were some rocks to pick up. She barely got inside the opening when a floating apparition slid silently right at her - her brain registered the sight - a level 90 elite. Philly lasted about thirty seconds. Dead.

Philly reluctantly moved back into Pandaria. The quests are numerous and boring, the XP is modest at best, and the mobs harder to kill than Philly is used to. Philly has had it too easy for too long. More than two hours of questing got Philly only to 21% of the way to Level 91. This is going to be a long slog.

Forget Hyjal. Forget Pandaria. Forget the Timeless Isle. It won't be any easier in Draenor, but that is where, ultimately, she must be. Might as well start now. Philly headed for the Dark Portal. Following in the footsteps of her family she fought her way into Draenor and built her garrison. She reached Level 91 and raised her gear score from i474 to i507.

The family now has SIX garrisons.

Friday, February 5, 2016

Breaking the Code For Professional Recipes

Breaking the Code For Professional Recipes

After weeks of frustration trying to understand how to get the high end recipes that are being held hostage by never appearing Traders, I posted the below in the WoW Forum to find an answer.

"I need some help understanding how to get the higher end recipes for leatherworking, blacksmithing, and inscription. As I understand it, there are Traders that have these recipes, appearing randomly at random garrisons. I also know that I can access these traders in garrisons other than mine. I check Wowhead every day to see if one of these three Traders are active. None have appeared in the last several weeks. Is this really only way to gain these recipes? It's conceivable that Legion could launch before I can get these recipes!"

Several players posted, but there was nothing that I didn't already know and I still remained mystified despite the earnest help of the posters. I won't go through the back and forth, but I finally understood what I had been missing. Every day I checked Wowhead to see if one of those Traders had appeared in a garrison - any garrison that posted a custom group offering the trader's goods would do - but I never saw any of those traders.

The answer, when it comes, is always simple. I was looking for a Trader's name. Wowhead doesn't generally post the name, Wowhead posts the item that is open for trading - like ore, dust, fur, leather, and herb. That was all I really needed to know.

Now, for the "It Can Only Happen to Wild" Show. Today's item for trade is Fur. Wild followed the lengthy steps to pick a custom group at a garrison that was offering the Tailoring recipes Wild needs. There was a little confusion about where exactly the Fur Trader was in this stranger's garrison, but after fumbling around a bit he found the guy - "Calvo Klyne, the Fur Trader."

Wild was deliriously happy and purchased all of the recipes his tailoring profession should have. He thanked the garrison owner . . .  then looked closer at where he was. Wild was in his own garrison. After failing all this time to gain these recipes, the first time it actually worked is when the DAMN FUR TRADER WAS VISITING WILD'S OWN GARRISON!

All I can say is that the Leather Trader should be working tomorrow. It will Fist's turn. She needs the recipes for Spiritual Leathercraft and Mighty/Savage Burnished Essence. She needs to have 200 raw beast hides in her bags to pay for it. And it better well work.

It did. It's Friday morning and Fist had no trouble joining a custom group in another player's garrison where the Fur Trader set up his wares. The wowhead post that describes the exact process is very thorough, but in my opinion is not clear on two points. The Trader does not stand just inside the Town Hall at the top of the stairs. He stands behind the command table. Second, the Trader has a blue Daily quest over his head. In both of the two times I've done this, you have to complete the daily (which is a simple transaction of goods) before the Trader will offer his goods goods.

I now know that the Traders come every day on a schedule. The order is "ore - dust - fur - leather - herb." Yesterday was fur, today is leather, and tomorrow is herb. And so on.

So, at last I have this figured out. It took me long enough.

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Tripping in Honeydew Village

Tripping in Honeydew Village

Monday - By late afternoon on Monday Philly was enjoying the rest of her day, having completed all of her tasks and nailing down Level 87. But as the afternoon drew to evening she got restless. There was little she could do in Hyjal, not until the dailies were up again. She took a trip to the Twilight Highlands, but that was a bust, and hanging out in Orgrimmar was boring.

So Philly hopped the portal to Pandaria's Jade Forest. Like with Mount Hyjal, it took some time to get her bearings, locate quests, and slip back into the pattern of exploring and questing. Once the initial battle to gain a foothold in Pandaria was complete, Philly quickly made her way to the airport, a difficult scenario that earlier family members had found frustrating. That frustration never manifested with Philly. By the time she had cleared and secured the airport, Philly had Dinged to Level 88.
Philly isn't ready to include Pandaria leveling into her every day routine, but it takes less than an hour to complete all of the dailies in Hyjal, leaving her with a lot of time on her hands.

The family wants to carve up that time to do chores and keep up their garrisons, but there are now seven members actively engaged in family business now - Jocy, Tiphaine, Fist, Wild, JB, Happy, and now Philly. Not everyone is going to be happy with how that time is distributed.

Wednesday - Philly pounded out her daily 20% dosage of experience in Hyjal. Then, with nothing better to do, she made another trip to Pandaria. I know, I know, but Philly just wanted another peek. That peek earned her way to Grookin Village and a dozen quests that drove her xp to 95% toward the next level. And it was even fun!

THEN, I started the quest, "Scouting Report: Like Jinyu in a Barrel." It starts by wasting almost twenty minutes running around playing canned snippets that you couldn't interact with. Trying to speed things up just set the whole rigamaroll back to the beginning. After wading through that it got even uglier. The quest has numerous bugs documented on Wowhead, and every poster on Wowhead has their own special solution of how to complete it without throwing a brick through the screen. That was my opinion the first time I attempted it. On the second run I turned off all of my addons and went plain vanilla. There is always a risk on doing that - sometimes a carefully designed and beloved interface goes belly up when monkeying with the interface. The tactic worked, though, my interface remained intact, and I completed the quest. But really, they should just FIX the quest.

The good news was that Philly DINGED! to Level 89 on that quest. So something good came of it. Philly was ready for more, but the network started having trouble, getting the "You have been disconnected from the server" warning, and minutes passed by waiting for it to clear. Logging off until next time.

Monday, February 1, 2016

A Crowded Field of Struggles

A Crowded Field of Struggles

The Wild family gals are getting on Wild's nerves. He is threatening to ask for a male demon hunter come Legion. That "threat" brought cheers from the girl gallery. Fist immediately offered to handle all of the demon hunter's leatherworking, and any other needs he might gave. And this was only one of many situations plaguing the family of late. Nobody is getting enough time, not with six players trying to level and/or work on their garrisons.

Wild is still trying to resolve the mess between Tiphaine and Fist regarding a Scribe's Quarters. His outrageous plan to move professions around again had the whole family in an uproar. It was a bad plan, Wild had to admit, and in the end it turned out it wouldn't even have worked. The gist of it is that Fist his holding a lot war paints that Tiphaine thought she would get. Never mind the details, there was no way to get those war paints from Fist to Tiphaine without help. So on Sunday the following Ticket was sent to the gods of WoW to try and fix the issue:

"I screwed up my inscription and Scribes Quarters by not locating them on the same character. I "fixed" it by destroying the Scribes Quarters I didn't want (Plumrosefist character) and built a new one on the Tiphaine garrison, who has the inscription profession. That fixed the Tiphaine garrison, but the problem is that the Plumrosefist character still has a bag full of war paints that I hadn't realized were soulbound and can't be used. If possible, could you transfer the 732 war paints that Plumrosefist has to the Tiphaine character so that those war paints can be used?"

Meanwhile, Philly's struggles continue. She is currently stuck on the Gardians of Hyjal quest thread. JB must have done this when she got a wild hair and leveled from 85 to 87. Why Philly is having such a hard time isn't clear, but she's going to try to follow it instead of jumping around. She has been able to quest a bit in the Grove of Aessina, another hard line quest thread that must be followed step by step to get anywhere. Hyjal is a level 80 zone so the killing is easy pickings, it's the unforgiving questlines that has her banging her wand on her head. The whole point of this exercise is to get to the Sanctuary of Malorne daily quests which offer big gobs of experience and avoids having to muck about in Pandaria.

Speaking of Pandaria, I have to admit that Philly did pop through the portal to Pandaria just to look around. I learned that she must have already done the starter quests at some point because the quest line was already past the battle at the flying ship. Philly needs to stick to one or the other venue, or risk getting bogged down in both. She has only gotten as far as 34% toward level 87. This is poor results.

There is one bright bit of success. Blizzard fixed the Lumber Mill problem (the starter quest was missing) and JB has been out tagging trees all afternoon. Having tree cutters dropping down out of helicopters to do the cutting was funny the first few times I saw it. Now I just want them to speed things up a bit.

Back to Philly, she waded once more into Hyjal and through grim determination forced herself through broken quests and incomprehensible directions that ultimately got her to the doorstep of the Sanctuary of Malorne, which is where she wanted to be. She also picked up a Daily quest there, the first of many more. With the opening of that portal, Philly pushed her way in, collecting another half-dozen daily quests. For the first time Philly set eyes on the fire and magma field within that will occupy her perhaps all the way to level 90.

For tonight, though, Philly was satisfied with reaching level 87.

PS - Philly took the offer to take up the mining profession, but she did not take skinning away from Fist to get it. Philly no longer has any need for inscription, so she unlearned it and took Skinning. Philly actually likes gathering, and in and around the battles she got her first 31 steps toward getting mining to level 700.